The Dream Shifter

Chapter 100

"Hrmph! I doubt that's possible, stupid!" said a high pitched voice from behind the both of them.

Yuki had immediately turned to look at Saki puzzled why she would say something so mean to him. However, she was looking back at him with an equally perplexed look of confusion. It then came to them to look behind only to jump away in surprise. "What are you doing back?!" shouted Yuki, having nearly fallen down in shock.

The fairy, which he had not seen for more than a week, was floating in the air staring at the two of them with her arms on her hips. She seemed even more upset than the last time that he saw her. "I've come to torment you, girly."

The surprised expression on Yuki's face quickly turned to one of disbelief. 'Is everyone here just to screw with me?' He was not sure what to make of the fairy response. There seemed to be an awareness in the fairy of its situation. "What do you mean?"

"Well that's disappointing. I was hoping for a better response than that. You are really boring today."

Yuki looked over to Saki with both of them leaning towards each other to whisper to each other. "Is it me or does she sound more irritated than usual?"

Saki nodded slightly to Yuki as she looked back at the fairy, who was crossing her arms in disgust. "Yeah, I was just about to ask you."

"What should we do?"

"I don't know it's your mind that created her!"

"Why you placing this all on me?!" Yuki had to keep himself from shouting at her.

"Because it's true!"

"But I didn't mean to do it!"

"You two realize that I can hear everything you're saying?" The fairy was hovering a little closer to them staring narrowly at them. Both Yuki and Saki pulled back looking at each other quickly before staring sheepishly at the fairy. "Just because I'm small doesn't mean my hearing is too."

Hiroshi had already arrived at school a little earlier than normal. He had been unable to sleep very well; actually his sleep had been poor ever since he saw Yuki in the alley with Seiji. It had been on his mind continuously. There were little bits that he had been able to piece together. Most of it still confused him, but he knew that Saki and Ayumi were in on the secret as well. All of the mysterious accidents in class that focused on Yuki had started to make some sense to him. It was all still very strange to him, but he hoped that he would have some answers from Yuki soon.

When he had first seen Yuki he was not sure if he should be scared. There was the tales of Yuki being a bully at his past schools, but it never really bothered him. However, he could feel a heavy darkness being cast over Yuki since the alley. The darkness had a source, but he could not be certain if it was Yuki that was creating it. He knew it was there and that uncertainty was that left him feeling ill. 'What's going on Yuki? This is more than just something from your past.'

Tatsuya gave the oddly pensive Hiroshi a hardy pat on the back to snap him out of his uncharacteristic daze. "Hey, man! What's going on?"

"Oh nothing much!"

Kazuhiro joined in from the other side of the aisle made by the desks, having just recently arrived. "Woah! Hiroshi's here before us? You trying become an upstanding student?"

"Nothing like that, guys!" Hiroshi dismissively waved his hand to them. He pulled himself together and gave him a mischievous grin that helped to settle the minds a little. "There's no fun to be had being a model student, you know that!" A need for distraction came to him as he began to look around the classroom searching.

It was Tatsuya that provided it when he looked over at Kazuhiro school bag. "Hey, what's that thing hanging from your bag, Kazuhiro?"

Kazuhiro turned down for a moment reacting with confusion. He had lifted up his bag to bring it closer to their sight. There was what looked like a medallion hanging from a silver metal chain attached to this school bag. It had some strange letters carved into its surface along with a finely detailed impression of a bust of an unknown person. The craftsmanship on the piece was surprising, but hardly something that Kazuhiro would be carrying around. "Oh this? I dunno. Some strange foreigner handed it to me on the way to school."

"Foreigner? Why didn't you throw it away or refuse?"

All he could do was shrug to Tatsuya. "The guy was pretty insistent that I have it. Besides, if it's foreign I might be able to sell it. It looks pretty nice. Better than nothing, huh?"

Hiroshi did not really give it much thought as he started to tune out what they were saying. He stared out the window down at the students walking around. 'Just another normal day for everyone…something feels off. Why am I getting such a bad feeling about today?'

Demosthenes walked away from the high school pulling down his dark fedora that was matching his business suit that he was wearing. He tilted his head back seeing in the distance Yuki entering the school grounds. His eyes narrowed for a moment before he continued on his way. 'This has a very bad taste, but it's for the future King…I must do this…'

The remainder of the walk to the school for Yuki and Saki had been peaceful enough, once they had gotten rid of the fairy. However, Saki was forced to be on heightened alert with Yuki. Even though he seemed focused on the outside it was made clear to her that he was losing it inside. She had never seen him lose control of his power so much just on a simple walk. If it continued for them Yuki's head would be nothing but bumps by the end of the day. 'What's bothering him so much? And why doesn't he want to tell me?'

In school she had to keep Yuki concentrating in the halls. There were two near run-ins with bullies that had issues with Yuki in the past. It surprised her how easily he made enemies from just being clumsy and an easy target. The only thing that saved him that day was Saki as his escort. They were all too afraid to even consider doing anything with her presence near Yuki. While almost everyone knew that she protected Yuki from just about everything; it would still require her accompany him to make others afraid. She would never understand why people would think that they could get away with it even if she was nearby, she always knew (almost as though she had radar to detect these sorts of things). 'I wonder if Ayumi might know something about Yuki's problem…but I haven't seen her yet…'

Saki looked in the classroom for Ayumi hoping that she would be able to talk to her quickly before class started, but she had not arrived yet. 'Hmm…not here yet…well she doesn't always walk with us…just usually the days I have morning practice…' However, she had to pay attention to Yuki who was losing control again. "Hey! Yuki! We're in class!" She slapped him in the back of the head allowing his chair to reappear before he fell to the floor.

"…Oh! Right!" said Yuki starting to laugh sheepishly. "I'm so sorry for causing you so much trouble, Saki!" He began to bow repeatedly to her acting more apologetic with each second.

The attention got to her making her a little red in the face. "It's fine, Yuki! I'm here for you! It's a promise!" She forced down the embarrassment to redirect it in the hope of getting a little more out of him. The results were completely opposite of what she was expecting from Yuki.

He turned his head away suddenly having a dark shadow cast over his eyes. "…promise…"

From across the room in his seat Hiroshi empty gaze was turned towards Yuki and Saki. He had briefly caught it, though at this point it did not even cause him to a raise an eyebrow to the fact. It almost made him nervous how easily he accepted something that could not possibly be happening. The question of his own sanity came up to him frequently, but he could only answer to himself that if he was questioning himself then he was still sane. However, none of that helped to make it any easier for him to deal. '…is it just another day? Then why do I feel so strangely…'

Their homeroom teacher, Ms. Kuniyoshi, arrived bringing the class to order. Hiroshi was not one to pay much attention to homeroom regardless of the day. However, he quickly began to zone out of the class fading away into his memories. He was not certain what he prompted the thought for him, but his nostalgia carried him back to his middle school days.

It was not much different for him being a first year middle school student than it was being a first year high school student. He had dealt with things in the same fashion that had known. Joking and mischief were his tools. They allowed him to get through the days without becoming bored by everything. Hiroshi managed to keep himself up barely above getting in to trouble, knowing almost uncannily when to stop (trait he always failed at with Saki).

School life dragged on for him. His behavior gained him attention, but not friends. It never really bothered him greatly since he always felt like he had someone near to him. However, during the summer term in school there had been a lot of troubles between some of the students. It had been an unusually hot and humid year putting a lot of people on edge. Tensions got to the breaking point and things quickly spiraled out of control.

During the lunch break of those summer days the entire first floor of the school was in an uproar. Hiroshi had been munching on some school bought bread looking bored when he heard a tidal wave of screams. They came from far end of the hall and distinctly girls. He poked his out of the classroom through the door catching someone running by away from the trouble. Hiroshi grabbed the boy with his free hand. "What's going on?"

The boy looked nervous like he knew, but did not want to say. Which only made Hiroshi even more curious. A little pressure from a well placed lean and stare opened the boy's lips, but briefly. "The girls in Class 1-E…"

"Yes…" he said pressing for even more information. The boy flipped his head back and forth down the hall looking suspicious by the moment. He then leaned in towards Hiroshi whispering to the rest of it. Upon hearing what happened Hiroshi eye's immediately widened in surprise. "You can't be serious! That's enough to get you expelled!"

The boy nodded to him. "It's true! And I saw Tatsuya Mori and Kazuhiro Nanase coming out! Everyone's already saying that it was them!"